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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 05/21/1997• Draft Minutes to be approved by the Transportation Board at the June 18, 1997 Meeting TRANSPORTATION BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES May 21,1997 FOR REFERENCE: Chair Paul Valentine 493-0100 Vice Chair Paul Perlmutter 229-2549 Council Liaison Mike Byrne 493-3255 Staff Liaison Tom Frazier 221-6893 Secretary Micki White 224-6173 11 0 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Alan Beatty, Mark Egeland, Sara Frazier, Donn Hopkins, Tim Johnson, Ray Moe, Paul Perlmutter, and Paul Valentine BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Steve Hanna STAFF/COUNCIL/GUESTS PRESENT: Guests: Tom Hofmann, Shamrock Taxi owner Bruce Henderson Max Moe Susan Bilo Guest Speaker: Kathy Lassen, Commission on Disability Transportation Planning: Ron Phillips, Tom Frazier, John Daggett, Micki White SMARTTrigs: Meg Corwin Transfort: David Lilly, Director Corinne Peck, Financial/Grants Coordinator Natural Resources: Linda Devocelle AGENDA: A. B. C. D. E. F. CALL TO ORDER APPROVAL OF MINUTES INTRODUCTIONS COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT Commission on Disability Report - Kathy Lassen PUBLIC COMMENTS ACTION ITEM 1. Dial - A - Ride - David Lilly Transportation Board Meeting Minutes May 21, 1997 Page 2 G. DISCUSSION ITEMS 1. Transportation Transfer Center Update - Tom Frazier 2. Clean Cities Program - Susan Bilo 3. Office of Energy Conservation Grant/Transfer Center - John Daggett 4. Board Member Reports 5. Staff Reports 6. Summary/Next Agenda 7. Other Business Mr. Paul Valentine, Board Chair, called the meeting to order at 5:55 p.m. Mr. Valentine asked for a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting. Alan Beatty moved the minutes be approved. Tim Johnson seconded. The motion carried unanimously. Mr. Valentine then asked for any comments concerning the minutes. Mr. Johnson thought they were helpful in regard to Dial - A - Ride. Tom Frazier introduced Kathy Lassen, with the Commission on Disability, Corinne Peck from Transfort, John Daggett from Transportation Planning, Meg Corwin from SmartTrips, Tom Hofmann from Shamrock Taxi, Bruce Henderson, citizen, and David Lilly, Transfort Manager. Paul Valentine then informed the Board that Meg Corwin had something to present to the Board. Meg told the Board that Bike Week was coming up in June and she wanted to give the members a Bike Week tee shirt. She told them that this year's theme was Share the Road, Share the Trail. Meg told the Board that the design was done by Julie Moss. Meg then gave each Board member their own shirt. Mr. Valentine mentioned to the Board that a new Council Liaison had been appointed to serve and since Mr. Mike Byrne was not present, there was no Council Liaison report. Mr. Valentine then turned the floor over to Ms. Kathy Lassen. Ms. Lassen began by thanking the Board for allowing her the time to talk to them and meet all of the members. Ms. Lassen said that Tom Frazier and David Lilly had been active members of the Commission on Disability and always attend their meetings when asked. Ms. Lassen said she just wanted to come to this Board's meeting and introduce herself and let the members know that the Commission on Disability is always available to any of the members. Ms. Lassen said that the members of the Board and the Commission on Disability had interests in common, such as helping the people of Fort Collins including the elderly and disabled. Ms. Lassen said that all of the various Boards and Commissions should be working together, sharing stories, ideas, and programs in order to assist each other wherever possible. Ms. Lassen told the • Transportation Board Meeting Minutes May 21, 1997 Page 3 Board that one of the things her Disability Commission is working on is putting together a slide presentation, which will be transfered through Cable 27 into a video format. One of Ms. Lassen's Board members is working on the script that will go with the video. She anticipates this being ready by the end of the year. This video will demonstrate all types of changes that have taken place in the community. Ms. Lassen said their plan is to be able to go out into the community and make presentations to the public. Ms. Lassen then invited to Board members to ask questions of interest to them. Tim Johnson asked Ms. Lassen to tell the Board what some of the greatest strengths and weaknesses that the Transportation Board may have, in regard to the Commission on Disability. Ms. Lassen told Mr. Johnson that she felt on of the strengths of the Transportation Board was a good team. She complimented Tom Frazier, David Lilly, and Ralph Powers on their efforts in making positive changes. She said this group is really working on awareness of people's disabilities, in trying to implement driver education through Transfort, working out a system for people that need to be in a wheel chair to access Transfort, if possible. Ms. Lassen said this has a big impact on what is being attempted with Dial - A - Ride (DAR), also. Ms. Lassen said that the more people ride Transfort, the more the pressure will ease on DAR. • Ms. Lassen went on to say that she felt Transportation is committed to designing a program that is suited to citizens with disabilities. She said, on the down side, people get so involved at times with the day to day work load, that they forget this particular population may have problems keeping up the pace. She said at times, drivers may not be quite "up to snuff' in handling the disabled situation. Ms. Lassen did say that she felt Transfort was working hard at trying to remedy some of those situations. An additional "downside" at this time, she said, was limited routes, access within the City, and the fact that there is no transportation in the evening hours and on Sunday. Ms. Lassen said this is one of their biggest complaints. She said one of her tasks is to find work for the disabled and it is hard to find work for them if they have to tell a potential employer that they are unable to work evenings or Sundays due to lack of transportation. Paul Perlmutter asked Ms. Lassen if she knew the percentage of citizens that are too disabled to drive an automobile. Ms. Lassen said she didn't have a percentage because of the variables. Mr. Perlmutter felt there was an important distinction between the disabled who are able to drive and those who cannot. Mr. Frazier commented that there are numbers but they are really hard to quantify because when the data is collected, people focus on physical rather than neurological disabilities. Donn Hopkins told the Board that CSU has 400-500 students with disabilities. He said that some of those students have significant disabilities. 41 Alan Beatty asked about the number of clients accessing DAR with disabilities. Tom Frazier told Transportation Board Meeting Minutes May 21, 1997 Page 4 him that 75% of the DAR client base is disabled. Mr. Lilly said there is a client base of about 840 people and 25% of that base are senior citizens. Ms. Lassen commented that people get so focused on people in wheelchairs that they forget that disabilities also include blindness, hearing impaired, learning disabilities, and cognitive disabilities. She said defining disabilities is a very complicated process, rather than "cut and dried". Mr. Frazier interjected at this point and informed the Board that Corinne Peck, Transfort, would be retiring at then end of this month. He said that Ms. Peck takes care of all of the archives and brought an annual report with her tonight containing additional data. Mr. Frazier made note that on the disabled category (Transfort) there were between 69,000 and 70,000 trips that were in 1993 compared to over 93,000 trips in 1996. Mr. Frazier said that figure represents about 7% of their total ridership. Ms. Lassen was asked where she was employed and she told the Board she works for the Center for Community Participation (CCP) which is a part of the Department of Occupational therapy at CSU. CCP provides services for people with disabilities and/or people experiencing barriers to employment. CCP also works with families, employers, educators, students, professionals, and community members to promote full participation in the community and world of work for people with disabilities. All services through CCP promote self-sufficiency and are individualized, community -based, integrated and meaningful to the person. F. ACTION ITEM 1. Dial - A - Ride Paul Valentine introduced Mr. David Lilly, Director of Transfort. Mr. Lilly began by reiterating the proposal before the Board which is to put all ambulatory clients into taxis and to put all of the wheelchair -bound or clients that need accessibility into the blue vans. These vans would be dispatched by the City and the drivers of the vans would be City employees. Mr. Lilly and his team feel the City of Fort Collins can best serve the community in this way and provide cost feasibility at the same time. Mr. Lilly presented his cost summary and took questions from the Board members. Many of the members didn't feel his figures were clear. Mr. Frazier offered to clarify the proposal. Mr. Frazier broke the figures down and Mr. Frazier was asked additional questions from the Board. Mr. Hofmann then presented his own figures which would utilize both the blue, city -owned vans and his Shamrock Taxi cabs. Mr. Hofmann would employ the dispatchers and the drivers of the city - owned vans. Mr. Hofmann feels his proposal would best serve the interests of the citizens of Fort Collins and still be economical. Comments from the members of the Transportation Board included: • Transportation Board Meeting Minutes May 21, 1997 Page 5 • Donn Hopkins: What kind of miles would a dual service add to our road wear and tear? • Alan Beatty: Why isn't the City buying additional sedans rather than more blue buses? • Mark Egeland: I find it difficult to try and listen to presentations and absorb numbers all at the same time. It is hard to know which set of figures to go by. • Paul Valentine: In comparing both documents, the major difference seems to be in vehicle maintenance. I don't think there is a lot of difference in dollars. The issue seems to be more of who can do it best for the disabled. I don't feel the dollars are going to "shake" out that much differently. I think it comes down to who can provide the best service for the population we are serving. • Donn Hopkins: What is the service area? • Tim Johnson: It is undefined in my mind who can do it the best. • Sara Frazier: What do the customers say? (Tom Frazier referred to DAR survey last fall.) • Ray Moe: I tend to agree with Mark. I don't see a clean presentation and I'm not sure what it is that needs to be done. That doesn't seem to be clear. • Paul Perlmutter: I would like to see formal bids on the table. At this point in the presentations, Mr. Valentine noted that an hour and a half had been spent with no clear cut solution. Mr. Valentine asked for a motion to table this issue until next month. Tim Johnson moved that the issue be tabled to the following month and Alan Beatty seconded the motion. The motion carried. Transportation Services staff is requesting the Board's support in making a recommendation to the City Manager to self -operate the DAR service. Staff understood the Board's need for further study on this matter. Mark Egeland, Transportation Board member, agreed to meet with staff to help frame and evaluate the issues prior to the next board meeting. The Board requested staff to more thoroughly research the method of providing DAR service via a combination of city owned vehicles/taxi cabs and compare it to an all city owned vehicle operation. G. DISCUSSION ITEMS 1. Clean Cities Program - Susan Bilo/Linda Devocelle 40 Tom Frazier introduced Susan Bilo with the Air Quality Planning Council and Linda Devocelle with Transportation Board Meeting Minutes May 21, 1997 Page 6 the City of Fort Collins Natural Resources Department. Ms. Devocelle passed out a list of groups and contacts associated with the Clean Cities program from Weld County, Larimer County and Rocky Mountain National Park. Included with the group list was a fact sheet giving pertinent facts about the Clean Cities Program. Susan thanked the Board for inviting her. The Clean Cities program began in 1994 and is a locally based government and industry partnership coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy to expand the use of alternatives to gasoline and diesel fuels. Alternative fuels include propane, compressed natural gas, ethanol, liquid natural gas and electricity. Philadelphia received the first Clean Cities designation. Cities become designated by appointing a coordinator, holding stakeholder meetings, developing a program plan, and writing a Memorandum of Understanding that guides subsequent work. Susan Bilo told the Board that in May, 1996, the Weld/Larimer/Rocky Mountain National Park coalition received the nation's 47' Clean Cities designation. Ms. Bilo said that Rocky Mountain National Park is the first designated national park. Ms. Bilo said her main reason for coming before this Board was to let them know more about this program and she said if there was someone really interested, the Board might want to send a representative to the steering committee meeting, which meets once every two months. Paul Valentine expressed an interest in obtaining a copy of those committee meeting minutes. He said those minutes could be sent to Micki White and she could include a copy in each meeting packet. Ms. Devocelle said she would add Ms. White to their mailing list and this way all members would receive the information. Mr. Valentine then asked for a member volunteer to be a liaison and Sara Frazier said she would be happy to be included in the committee meetings. Mr. Valentine then asked for a motion from the Board members to be a Stakeholder in the program. Paul Perlmutter made the motion and Donn Hopkins seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. Ms. Bilo then asked who would be available to do some paperwork related to this program and the Board members generously volunteered Mr. Valentine, who graciously accepted. 2. Office of Energy Conservation Grant/Transfer Center - John Daggett Corinne Peck John Daggett told the Board that others had been involved in this project, including Kathleen Tracy, City of Fort Collins Graphics Department. Mr. Daggett told the group that his presentation would be about the Multi -Modal Transportation Center Feasibility Study. Mr. Daggett began his slide • Transportation Board Meeting Minutes May 21, 1997 Page 7 presentation by explaining the purpose of this study. The purpose is to determine the feasibility of establishing a transportation center in the downtown area which would provide "seamless" transportation options for passengers on public and private carriers. Mr. Daggett explained that this proposed center would serve: ♦ Transfort ♦ Private cross-country buses ♦ Private charter buses ♦ Airport shuttle services ♦ Taxis ♦ Bicycles ♦ Pedestrians ♦ Passenger rail service ♦ Special transportation providers ♦ Carpool and vanpool commuters The principal tasks included in this study are: • Site selection • Identification of potential users • Define partnership opportunities • Identify community benefits • Site evaluation • Program Uses • Conceptual site plan • Costs estimates • Future recommendations Mr. Daggett then illustrated a list of potential sites which included: ► LaPorte -America Parking Lot ► Old Freight Depot ► SE Comer of Lee Martinez Park ► United Way Center on Pine Street ► SE Corner of Vine @ Linden ► Old Power Plant ► Proposed City Administration Bldg ► Old Trolley Barn 0 Transportation Board Meeting Minutes May 21, 1997 Page 8 Included in the evaluation criteria are the following: • Adjacent to Mason Street • Adjacent to Rail • Close to Downtown • Adequate size of site • Accessibility to all modes • Site environmentally clean • Proximity to Jobs and Services • Acquisition costs • Development costs • Compatibility with neighborhood • Compatibility with approved plans Mr. Daggett asked for any suggestions from the Board as to additions. Mr. Daggett told the members that, at the next meeting, there would be an additional presentation on the CSU Transfer Center. Corinne Peck told the Board that this particular grant was written with the idea that it is feasible to have one in the Down Town area and that is what the sites listed were focused on. Donn Hopkins asked about commerce/trucking issues. Corinne said she didn't feel that we really wanted to bring large trucks in the Down Town area. Donn felt that they are an issue and trucking is a big factor in transportation issues. Alan Beatty asked about intercity versus infra city. Mr. Daggett responded by saying the plans would like to have the intercity and intra city seamless. Sara Frazier asked if any talk had indicated how large the structure would be, would it be in layers, what its appearance might be. Mr. Daggett said that would be done. Ms. Frazier asked if seamless was a criteria and Mr. Daggett told her that was a goal. Mr. Beatty asked about air transportation and Mr. Daggett said the notion was to not create services that don't already exist, but to gather the existing services. 3. Transportation Transfer Center Update - Tom Frazier Tom Frazier said he just wanted to quickly brief the Board on some issues concerning this project. Mr. Frazier said everyone is in agreement with the fact that a transfer center is needed on that particular site located at I-25 and Harmony Road. There is a major disagreement as to who is going • • Transportation Board Meeting Minutes May 21, 1997 Page 9 to pay for what once it is constructed. Mr. Frazier said that what they are proposing is basically, an asphalt pad, with bumper stops, a couple of low shrubs, and a driveway in and out to handle cars. Mr. Frazier said this area has been identified, as a gateway to the community and staff feels (1) this needs to be upgraded to represent a main entrance to the City and (2) that we are looking at more than just carpoolers and vanpoolers. We are looking at bicycles, buses, and any other mode of transportation, so some amenities are needed such as bicycle lockers, benches, restrooms, drinking fountains, etc. The state has elected that yes, we can have all of that but the City is expected to pay for all of that. Mr. Frazier said this is the issue presently. Mr. Frazier said the next largest issue has to do with maintenance and who will have that responsibility. Mr. Frazier said that normally, Harmony Road is the responsibility of Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) so staff is trying to work through these issues. It is agreed by all that this is a great concept, with all of the changes that will be occurring at I-25; the overpass, the on/off ramps, and signalization. Mr. Frazier said that this will be a wonderful spot. Mr. Frazier continued by saying that another piece is that this is potentially a major trail -head for continuation along the regional trail system, going down to Poudre. Mr. Frazier said, at that particular point, it is difficult to get across the Interstate. Mr. Frazier concluded by saying it is • definitely a challenge. Mr. Frazier said there is not a cost estimate, to date, for the previously mentioned amenities. Mr. Valentine asked when the interchange work would begin and Mr. Frazier told him it would be in the month of October, according to the current schedule. 4. Board Member Reports Donn Hopkins apologized for his recent absences and told the Board that he had some information to share from CSU initiatives which include: 1. Transit Center development on Campus 2. Ped/Bike underpass beneath College Ave between Lake and Pitkin 3. Three parking lot projects underway this summer a. South side of the old Great Hall b. Corner between Pitkin and Lake on College Avenue C. Along Lake, near Lake and Whitcomb 4. Bikeways along a street project to connect W end of Pitkin to Shields 5. Bike path that will connect Pitkin to Lake Street Alan Beatty asked Donn Hopkins about the projected enrollment for CSU for next year and Donn said they are struggling to meet their enrollment. • Sara Frazier told the Board there was an article in the paper about air quality. Transportation Board Meeting Minutes May 21, 1997 Page 10 5. Staff Reports Tom Frazier told the Board that the Planning and Zoning Board, Air Quality, Natural Resources Board wants to have another session with the Transportation Board to discuss work plans and issues. They would like to know who and how many members would like to attend the meeting. Tom Frazier reminded the Board that the last time it was just Paul Valentine. Mr. Frazier said that all of these groups have overlapping issues. Sara Frazier said she would go but felt it important that other members attend also. Mark Egeland felt that if you had all the members from all of the Boards, it would become a social event. Mr. Egeland felt just a few representatives should attend. Paul Perlmutter offered to attend at least one of the meetings. 6. Summary/Next Agenda • CSU Transfer Center - John Daggett • Adjustment of Street Oversizing Fee (To Council in July) • Budget issues/clarification (Turned into City Mngr 6-2 but have until mid -July to make other changes) • Warranties • MPO • (Future) Plans for using 3/4 cent sales tax • Trash • Dial - A - Ride 7. Other Business There was no other business so Mr. Valentine adjourned the meeting at 9:05 p.m. .J�p Micki E. White, Transportation Board Secretary